1. Create mail filters.

One of the biggest time wasters during our day is responding to e-mail. It breaks your flow of ideas on whatever you're working on. One way to reduce the interruptions is to create mail filters for "non-urgent" mail. This is strictly e-mail that you can answer at the end of the day or the next morning when you have more time. Any mail that goes here you know doesn't require a quick response. Remember to keep check every once in a while ( when you have time ) to make sure your manager's e-mail isn't in there. One way (don't let your co-workers see you) is to filter by a person's e-mail.

2. Use a text expander like Ditto

Ditto Text Expander is a PC tool that expands text shortcuts as you type, to save you thousands of keystrokes, reduce your mistakes, and help you be more productive. It is the perfect tool to improve productivity on your PC. It works with most programs on your PC to enable you type shortcuts that get replaced with full text as you type. It can be customized to meet your most common needs. You can use it in your word processor to type or structure common text or citations. The customizable auto-correct text pack holds a large list of commonly mispelled words. Other common uses are for medical transcription, html coding, instant messaging, e-mail, or job-related software that often requires the same text entered multiple times throughout the day.

3. Centralize Your Work.

Use web-based apps like google docs to avoid e-mailing documents back and forth. These simple apps are extremely powerful and enable you to work on the same document wherever you have internet access. You can even share them with others or e-mail them with a few mouse clicks. Sure you don't get the same functionality as your desktop office productivity tool, but it's a small sacrifice to make for the productivity boost you gain. Probably 95% of the functionality you use in your word processor can be duplicated with a product like Google Docs.

4. Use Document Templates.

Along the same lines as Ditto Text Expander, document templates in your word processor or spreadsheet program can save you tons of time. Why? You invest a few extra minutes to set up the template in a generic way. From this point on, the only things that need to change are the items specific to your particular needs (i.e. order numbers, client names, addresses, etc). Many of us don't take the time to see how we can do things smarter. Using document templates is one of those easy productivity boosters because they require minimal changes to maximize your results.

5. Use a timer.

Timers on your computer are a great way to keep yourself on track throughout the day. Set a timer for the amount of time you have to work on a project. Offloading the mere perception of having to do other projects is a great time saver because our brain doesn't waste time worrying about what else needs to get done. Multi-tasking efficiently is not all it's cracked up to be. Switching between tasks will cost you time unless you are a very disciplined with your work.